Child carriers permit transportation of a child within a backpack donned by a wearer. These carriers may comprise a rigid frame fabricated from aluminum tubing, a cockpit in which a child is secured typically through the use of one or more belts, and a mounting portion to which shoulder straps are attached to support the carrier on the back of a wearer. Additionally, many child carriers include waist belts that allow the wearer to secure the lower portion of the carrier firmly against the wearer's waist and lower back.
Prior art child carriers have been adjustable to fit the back of different-sized wearers and children seated therein. Generally, a shoulder strap length adjustment is provided, as is a waist belt size adjustment. Some child carriers also permit adjustment of the height of the waist belt, although current designs are somewhat cumbersome and do not permit the user to adjust the height while wearing a loaded child carrier. Typically, such adjustment mechanisms involve multiple straps, buckles and/or hook and loop connections requiring the wearer to adjust the height of the waist belt prior to placing the child in the carrier.
The shoulder straps that secure the child to the carrier are typically attached by way of stitching or rivets to the fabric covering a rigid frame and not directly to the frame itself. Consequently, given the flexible nature of the fabric straps, it is often difficult to adjust the shoulder straps precisely to a position that provides an optimum level of support and comfort for the child.
Typically, child restraint systems used in prior art carriers have incorporated a 5-point harness comprised of two shoulder straps, a crotch strap, and a waist belt. The term 5-point harness typically refers to the number of locations that the straps of the harness are attached to the seat or cockpit to which a child is to be restrained. 5-point harnesses typically do a good job of restraining the child; however, because of their design, a determined child could possibly loosen one or more of the shoulder straps by bracing against another strap, such as the crotch strap, to apply pressure to the shoulder strap and cause either or both straps to lengthen due to movement induced within each strap's adjustment buckle. In such a circumstance, the child could slide out of the carrier.
Other prior art carriers have included yokes being repositionable prior to the child being fastened within the harness. These repositionable yokes have utilize Velcro (fastening tape consisting of a strip of nylon with a surface of minute hooks that fasten to a corresponding strip with a surface of uncut pile) to facilitate holding the yoke in place. Such harnesses provide flexibility in fitting the harness to the child in the static position, but provide no vertical flexibility after the child is strapped into the harness. For instance, if the child were to attempt to raise his shoulder, the yoke would not allow for any appreciable upward movement in the shoulder strap.